Saturday, December 13

Kyle and Cameron Try to Win in Florida

Two out of three days at the National K-12 Championships have been completed. The field thinned out after five grueling rounds. Now only a handful of contenders remain undefeated with dreams of becoming national champion. Two local players have placed themselves in position to finish at the top: Kyle Shin (5.0 in 5th grade) and Cameron Wheeler(4.5 in 3rd grade). Three more sit at 4.0 with a decent shot at winning a trophy.

The 5th grade section is full of upsets, but top seeded Kyle Shin has calmly won all five of his games. On the other hand, the other three A players each dropped at least one point in the standings. My stern warning to take each game 100% seriously regardless of the opponent's rating has paid dividends so far; too many kids at nationals are underrated by 200 or more points (especially those hailing from New York or New Jersey).

Kudos to Cameron Wheeler for taking care of business in the first four rounds and then drawing with talented Tommy He (1842) in round 5. The rook endgame seemed hopeless at first glance, but Cameron alertly kept his rook active until his opponent gave him a draw. He faces yet another 1800 on Sunday morning.

2 comments:

Arun won round 6 and I hope they don't mess up the pairing again. He should be paired against Awonder (the only undefeated player in his section). This will be an exciting match since #1 & #2 player in the country will face against each other. Unfortunately my other student, Rayan lost today (after losing his queen!) and the rest are still playing.

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Check here for tournament reports and the latest chess news from Michael "fpawn" Aigner. Find out where fpawn has played recently. Emphasis on:1. fpawn's students and friends,2. Northern California chess events,3. national or international chess news (especially involving local players).Say hi when you surf in, but please keep comments clean and sign your name.

Who Is Fpawn

Mr. Aigner remains an active chess tournament player, coach and community supporter in Northern California. He refuses to surrender to little munchkins trying to eat his rating points. He firmly believes that chess teachers should practice what they preach, even if that means competing head-to-head against students and their peers. In that spirit, he aspires to reaching 2300 again after several years at or near the 2200 floor.